And it sucks to be you!
Yes, I saw Avenue Q last night. It was pretty damn funny and there was puppet sex. I’m happy my brother went, he got to see what he has to look forward to when he finishes college (not the having sex with puppets part).
My boss asked how I like the show when I got in today. Good thing she didn’t ask what it was about. ‘Oh just being a recent college grad, hating your job, feeling like you have no purpose, being poor…oh you want me to file something for you? And we are not getting paid on time again? I love my job!’

Later my boss asked, possibly begged, me to stay at the agency. I never gave any indication that I was thinking about leaving but people around me have been dropping like flies due to the payroll mess. I think this is the 3rd major delay in payroll since I started and there have been at least a few more minor (under 2 days) delays.
I have the feeling I should get off the sinking ship but I’m always the type to fight/wait things out until the bloody end. My boss talked with me and she really wants me to get back to writing proposals soon. I would hate to leave the job without getting any real research experience. I need something to take away from this job! My clinical skills have gone unused and my research skills haven’t been developed..it’s like I never went to grad school, except for the debt.

Unrelated, I have four wedding coming up in the next few months! I know, it’s wedding season so I shouldn’t be surprised. I am going to be a jealous bitch, watching all my friends getting Cuisinart mixers. Also, bad time to be newly single.

I got off work early today, it was my boss’ way of thanking me for being assistant bitch all day. he group I was helping today was impressed with my hella mad organizational skills. One lady commented ‘You just do everything!’ and without thinking I responded ‘Everything and everyone!’ Ya, that’s why they only let me talk to crackheads.

She says that I will get a day or two off soon for all the extra work I have been doing. It would be nice if those days off coincided with my next trip so I don’t have to take a ‘sick day’ but I don’t think things will be back to normal by then.

We still have not got paid. The CEO is going to Springfield tomorrow to get us some moneys. I hope. He’s had meetings with just about every department that pays us and so far I have not seen nearly enough checks come in to cover payroll.

I will be happy when my stimulus check comes. I know I’m supposed to damn the man and save it instead of spend it but I’m spending it on a tattoo. Doesn’t that count as damning the man a little bit?

This keyboard sucks and the shift keys don’t work sometimes so I have to go back and make sure all my capital letters are there. What happened to being able to buy a functional keyboard for $3 at a thrift store? I went looking this weekend and all of the keyboards looked like a child or dog chewed on them. This is what sucks about not hanging out with geeks anymore. I have to go all of the way to the suburbs to steal keyboards from my little brother. I will be in the burbs soon for my neice’s Hanna Montana themed birthday party. Who is wrapping her gift in Miley’s topless picture? The best aunt ever!

Some advice for whoever designed Chicago’s parking meter pay boxes:

I’m already annoyed that I have to park my car, go to the pay box, give it money, print out my ticket and then go back to my car to put it on the windshield. Get something like an I-Pass for parking already.
It’s also nice that you can use a credit/debit card to pay for parking if you don’t have any change. But how about some directions for the card reader? I don’t like shoving my card in the slot beyond my reach and not knowing if it will come back out. I especially don’t like this when I’m running late for a hair appointment (btw, hair is highlighted red and looks awesome). Directions come on screen when your card is all of the way in but by that time it’s too late! The evil parking meter may have swallowed your card.

Things that I kind of like about Chicago transportation:
I went to my alderman/ward’s site and I’m signed up for email reminders when there will be street cleaning. Signs are posted but I always forget if it’s the 3rd or 4th week of the month. No more tickets this summer!

And the bus route by my house just got GPS bus tracking. I can tell that 5 busses are bunched up 20 minutes away! Now they just need to make a text number for the bus tracker for those of us without web enabled phones.

Unrelated, I made an entry filled with old pics I found at my parents’ house on my MySpace page. I figured it’s best to keep personal posts like that off this blog.

More unrelated, a coworker is out injured, not sure when she will return, and I have been stuck doing her job and mine. My boss talked about getting a temp but we are having all sorts of financial problems so that won’t happen. Today my boss sent me an email saying that if she needs to change my duties while the coworker is out, let her know. Nice of her but I don’t want my primary assignments changed, I want someone else to do these secondary, not my job, assignments. I wish I could combine the finances of a for-profit with the awesome of a non-profit.

Updated! A commenter said I used to much lingo so I (filled in the blanks).

I talked to my boss about clinical supervision again. I’m getting nowhere with outside agencies taking me on as a volunteer that would also get clinical supervision. (hoops I have to jump through to get a C in my LSW)) Individual LCSW’s will supervise me but I would have to pay them weekly. The person my boss referred me to that said she would supervise me wants me to get a client for us to talk about.

It just happens our substance abuse program had a couple people leave recently (every counselor) so they are short staffed(the CEO is going to be running group soon). I offered to do my clinical hours with them and go to their weekly meetings for my supervision hours. I’ve already done intakes (trying to piece together a substance abuse history with a person that claims they don’t have a drug problem) during my internship so I would be able to jump in and help. My boss wants me to have a new experience (thinks I care about learning) and doesn’t like my idea. So much for trying to appear(key word) helpful.

My boss wants me to wait until another employee takes her LCSW exam in May and have her be my supervisor. This person is awesome (young and cute) but not a manager, no supervision experience and what she does isn’t that different! She works with dual diagnosis clients(crazy and like the drugs!) instead of just substance abusers. Anyone thats worked in substance abuse knows that most of your clients are actually dual diagnosis but haven’t been diagnosed yet or refuse MI(crazy) treatment(lots of pills).

So this chick better pass her damn test so she can supervise(gossip with me in her office) me. I want to get on this licensing thing. I kind of want a CADC (Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor) just because I will be doing my hours in substance abuse but I’m pretty sure I won’t be taking a direct service (actually working with clients and not hiding in admin land) substance abuse job anytime soon so I won’t be able to complete the work requirements to get certified( 2000 hours of paid direct service).

In other fun work news-lots of horny clients! Nothing like starting your day with a developmentally disabled woman telling you she likes sex! (Didn’t happen to me, happened to a male coworker.) Woo!

Yoga kicked my ass tonight! It wasn’t regular, lame Bally’s yoga. An instructor came to the acupuncture studio to teach a class. There were blocks and hip pulling involved and my knees are screaming.

There was more awesome at my workplace last week. We had a community meeting, meaning outsiders came in and we discussed an issue that impacts the community. We had one too many outsiders in the form of a crackhead that wandered in. My guess is he saw food and a bunch of people sitting in chairs and occasionally standing so he figured it was some sort of church. He came in and made himself at home. One of the speakers even let him get up and talk. He tried to read a Bible verse and then told us about war and Jews and Germans. We had security sit next to him so he stayed quiet but security wandered off and he got out his harmonica to accent what people were saying with his lovely out of tune music.

We had some scheduled entertainment, too. There was a guy that did some kind of inspirational dancing that involved a mask. I think it was supposed to be a mime mask but looked a little Friday the 13th to me. We had a rapper do a few songs and everyone really liked him. My boss tried rapping with him at the end and uh..not so good. Stick to church singing, boss.

I’ve been trying really hard to be involved at work which is why I am attending crackhead mime meetings. I feel like I am doing a lot but I’m not doing anything research related. You know…what I was hired to do. The next grant is due end of May and we have not even started on it. I have done all the prep work I can and my boss needs to take the next step so I have something to work on. Not that I don’t like reading my Zen books at work but I should be doing something useful occasionally.

I have been Lil Miss Involved at work lately. And the more involved I get, the less I want to know.

I visited some of our residential sites this week. At one of the sites, I am greeted at the door by a very flat sounding client. I had to ask twice if there was a staff person there. I try to talk to the client once inside, just a general “Hi, this is who I am and why I am here. How is it going?” She tells me, in a flat mumble, that she left the hospital today before she could see her doctor because people were staring at her and that she is off meds. Well, could have guessed that 2nd one. She said she was off meds because she is pregnant but it sounded like a doctor previously told her she was not pregnant. Her shirt didn’t fit very well and she is overweight so it was hard to tell if there was a baby bump. After I get this story I ask the staff person if she called the agency’s psychiatrist. She can always see clients right away if they miss appointments.

“Oh, no. Should I have done that?”

Yes, doing your job would be supercool. The client hugged me goodbye (woo mismatched behaviors!) and I declared myself done for the day.

I actually learned something in another meeting. Non-profits always have to stay in the red a little bit because if they have any money left over or break even, they risk having their funding cut for the next year. So I thought my agency sucked because they’re constantly playing catch up, it’s actually more about receiving payments on time to pay the bills but staying in debt just enough that we can keep asking for more.

My workplace is involved in the 50 Million Pound Challenge. We had a kick off event this week and there is an inter-agency contest going on. Whoever loses the most weight in 10 weeks (by percentage, not pounds) wins moneys! My agency isn’t that big and I’m sure everyone won’t participate. I would say there is a 1 in 50 chance of winning. So really I have no excuse not to start working at losing weight. The first weigh in is Monday (so I’m working on finishing my box of Valentine’s truffles this weekend.)

My tattoo is healing nicely and has stopped being itchier than Lindsay Lohan’s crotch. My tattoo is another reason for me to lose weight! I gots to look good to show it off!

Wonderful moment at work this week: Assistant of the Last Minute department comes by asking for FedEx envelopes. I don’t have any, just Express Mail. No, she needs FedEx because these are VERY IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS. Whatever, keep hunting. She finally finds the envelopes (probably in her own office because her department is the only one that uses Fed Ex) and sends off her docs. Next day I find out the very importantness did not reach it’s very important person because the Assistant sent it to the wrong address. Competency. We do not have.

So big project is done at work. It ended up going really well, we got awards, everybody hugged. Ya, I’m serious about that last part. I got a hug from the CEO! And I got a special shout out for being nice. Nice! Haha!

Now my boss is taking time off for the holidays so I won’t have much to do. I played with the bling today. I would loves me some alexandrite and diamonds but I always opt for something more practical.  Alexandrite is just so pretty! It changes colors in different light.

I did more Xmas shopping on Amazon today and updated my wishlist because my mom asked me what I wanted for Xmas and I just kind of stared even though I was thinking about what I wanted from the parents earlier in the week.

I found my big brother’s MySpace profile and he lies in it and say he is 10 years younger than he is! Ha!

Is it possible to go to a trader bar and not get incredibly messed up? All signs point to no. First time I went, I had an awesome frozen drink called Shark Attack. It came with a plastic shark toy and I was amused. I decided to end last night with 2 Shark Attacks (which came with marlins this time, not sharks) and a shot. I spent much of my morning staring at things, wishing I could will inanimate objects to move so I did not have to.
Even though I was miserably hungover, I still finished and submitted my brief proposal. My proposal that has my name as a co-investigator. Yay! I thought my boss would just put my name on the study as research staff but no, I’m an investigator! This means between now and the time we find out if the proposal was accepted, I have to take really boring online courses so I’m IRB approved. I’m so excited! My First Proposal!

And did you know that Cadbury eggs are now sold as Xmas candy? They also seem to be shrinking every year but this is excellent timing. As soon as my stash of Xmas eggs runs out, the Easter versions will be out! We need some summer holiday Cadbury eggs can be tied into. Memorial Day eggs?

I’m supposed to be finishing my brief proposal so I can throw it at my boss tomorrow and tell her to tear it to shreds so I can rebuild it by Wednesday. I have 1 more page to write and I just can’t seem to do it. And I still need to go grocery shopping tonight! I’m not sure what my problem is-anxiety over writing my first real proposal, lack of focus, bitter that I didn’t work on this last week because I was editing policy all week. Other than the few amusing policies on topics like “explicit materials”, it’s boring and time consuming.

I went to work in dress pants and my ninja top/mask on Halloween. I was very amused with myself and spent the day jumping into coworker’s offices and threatening people. I had a meeting with my intern minions last week. My boss wants me to be a Narc and talk to the interns casually and see if the things they complained about continue to suck or improve. Well, I am a ninja, should be no problem.

I went to the new Threadless store today. It’s super sexy,flat screen monitors above every display case showing the graphic, price, comments and pictures of smiley people in the shirt, nice big Macs for browsing their site. Upstairs is artwork and I’m told they host digital art classes there, too. I got this shirt.